Once more on the hand gestures

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With all the heated debate going on about what we should and shouldn’t do, I had to tell a story. Our priest was out of commission for health reasons for about two months. After playing musical priests for a few weeks, we got a full time replacement. He is completely deaf. As he said Mass, he would sign (use sign langauge) quite a bit, even as he said the words. It’s amazing! I hadn’t ever had an experience like this, but it was wonderful. I never thought I’d know how to say “Lord, have mercy” in ASL, but I do now! Anyone else ever had an experience like this?
 
When my brother was a priest one of his ministries was to the deaf community in a neighboring state. He is hearing, but knows (and taught) American Sign Language, and said Mass in ASL (including homilies). It was beautiful.

'thann
 
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vegpotter:
With all the heated debate going on about what we should and shouldn’t do, I had to tell a story. Our priest was out of commission for health reasons for about two months. After playing musical priests for a few weeks, we got a full time replacement. He is completely deaf. As he said Mass, he would sign (use sign langauge) quite a bit, even as he said the words. It’s amazing! I hadn’t ever had an experience like this, but it was wonderful. I never thought I’d know how to say “Lord, have mercy” in ASL, but I do now! Anyone else ever had an experience like this?
Wait, your priest is using his vernacular, not hand gestures.
 
Gosh, I wonder how they would go about signing the mass in Latin?

Verbum
 
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Verbum:
Gosh, I wonder how they would go about signing the mass in Latin?

Verbum
Because ASL is more of a “symbol-based” language, I would suspect it would be the same in English or latin. For example, the sign for “eat” would translate into Latin the same way because the word is not spelled out (that is, it isn’t “finger spelled”), but is a hand symbol indicating the action “eat.”

'thann
 
Our priest is involved in deaf ministries in our area. He often signs when he sees someone he knows is deaf in the congregation… Sometimes we have translators present and they sign, but if they aren’t present the priest will do it. It’s really cool.
 
I know what you mean. We have 1 Mass per week that is signed and our Midnight Mass is also signed. I sing in the choir and happened to glance over at the interpreter during the Gloria… it was done beautifully in ASL, very moving.

Holly
 
For awhile we had an “interpreter” at the saturday mass every other week. But the woman quit because there was really no need for it. But I enjoyed watching her do it. I’d love to learn how to sign. I DO know some signs, but not enough to carry on a conversation. Well, I do know the manual alphabet, so that helps. ❤️ :bible1:
 
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